Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the latest regular feature to be found here on the boards: well, you've probably already read the title of the thread...it's Team of the Week.
Yes, that's right, Team of the Week is making a (long awaited?) return. The new Team of the Week will be announced every Sunday, starting this Sunday the 17th!
How can your team have the chance to be Team of the Week? It's relatively simple. All that is needed is a profile here on the forums, but a google account is strongly recommended.
1. See this Google Doc for a list of questions. It is currently read-only, but if you go under "File" in the toolbar, you should see the option to "Make a copy...". If you select this and make a copy to your drive, you will be able to edit your copy to answer the questions. 2. Once finished answering the questions (note: it's okay to leave one or two blank, but please avoid submitting half-finished documents), click "Share" (in the upper right hand corner), "Get shareable link", and copy and paste the given link into a private message addressed to me. 3. I will then make a copy of your document with your responses to the questions and store them on my drive. In another document, I keep a numbered list of teams that have completed the application. Every Sunday I randomly select a number using my calculator, and the team that the selected number corresponds to is the team of the week for that week, and removed from the list for later weeks.
A few extra things to keep in mind:
1. Please check back in your inbox here on scioly after you have submitted your document. I will send you a confirmation message if I was able to successfully make a copy of your document and add your team to the list. If I wasn't, I will message you with instructions to execute plan B. 2.If for some reason you need the questions in the form of a Microsoft Word document or even a private message here on the forums, just shoot me a private message and I will get you the questions.
3. Avoid submitting fake or erroneous applications...and when I say "avoid", I mean don't. Don't do it.
If you have any questions feel free to post them here or send me a PM. After nationals this round of Team of the Week will come to an end (all applications from this year will be void), and it will hopefully restart sometime in the fall.
Just a reminder to all interested in their team being team of the week: please make sure you PM me your finished question document soon. I have currently received the links to 0 documents, so the odds are in favor of those who get it in the next 24 hours or so.
Well, we have received a document just in time. Introducing the first Team of the Week of 2016, John P. Stevens High School!
General information:
School Name: John P. Stevens High School
School/Team Mascot: Hawk
Division: C
City: Edison
State: NJ
How long has your school had a Science Olympiad team?
Since 2009, so 8 years.
About how many students participate in your program?
About 30-40 students participate in Science Olympiad in our school. It’s a fairly medium-sized club, although there are some clubs that are much bigger (such as FBLA and Odyssey of the Mind).
Does your team hold tryouts? If so, describe them.
Our team does hold tryouts. Tryouts are done using tests, the results of which will be consulted to make up the regionals and states teams.
How are practices structured for your team?
We usually have about 2-3 practices a week. The practices are usually from 4-6 PM, although some can be from 2:45-4 PM depending on library and student availability. the practices are used as study sessions; for members to have specialized time to prepare for their events.
Does your team have captains? If so, how are they selected? How many are there? What are their duties as captain?
Our team does have captains. There are usually 2 captains, and they were chosen by having prospective candidates fill out an application talking about the experience in Science Olympiad, how they can be a proper leader for Science Olympiad, and other necessary questions to verify that our club is brought under competent leadership. The prospective candidates also need to get 2 recommendations from science teachers using forms given to them by the coaches. Their duties are to pick members for the teams for regionals and states and coordinate tryouts and information sending to the rest of the team.
How do coaches function in your team?
Coaches are responsible for the connection to administration regarding registering for competition, getting school buses ready, managing finances so that they can reimburse build team members at the end of the school year, and overall holding the fort down so that nothing “too” crazy happens.
List any of your team’s past accolades:
3rd Place at 2015 NJ States
4 straight events getting 1st in Towers (2011 Regionals, 2011 States, 2012 Regionals, 2012 States)
1st Place at 2011 Camden County Regionals
1st Place Protein Modeling 2012 States, 1st Place WIDI 2014 States, 1st Place Dynamic Planet 2014 States, 2nd Place Astronomy 2015 Union County College Regionals
Full list of accomplishments: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing
Share a funny story or two about your team:
1) Our piano broke on our way to States 2012, and the team members responsible for Sounds of Music that competition had to makeshift repairs (we got 21st, which is explained by the lack of proper piano).
2) On the tryout test for experimental design, I believe the prompt was to try to melt an ice cube or something like that, and one of our team members trying out wrote as part of the supplies needed “H-Bomb” (like literally a hydrogen bomb). Everyone was cracking up after that happened, and the term came up as a suggestion for the nickname for his T-shirt.
What are the team's expectations for the coming season of competition?
Get to Nationals and (finally) beat West Windsor-Plainsboro North and South!
Wow, Sunday already. You know what that means; it's time for the new Team of the Week! Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the Rams from Ladue High School in St. Louis, Missouri!
Ladue High School's Science Olympiad team started in the late 80's, but the program sadly came to a halt after 1992. However, the program was brought back in the 2008 season after a fifteen year hiatus. The program is generally average-sized, with about twenty students participating.
Two sets of tryouts are held each year for Ladue. The tests are written by teachers who specialize in the subject of the event. Practices for the team are held at the middle school about once a week. They are generally used for collaborating with other team members. The coach orders pizza for those who pay for it if the meeting goes late. The team's coach provides his room for practices and makes sure nothing too dangerous goes down. The team has two senior captains who are chosen by the coach based on the level of dedication they have shown to the program. These captains are responsible for making sure practices remain productive and boosting team morale. As a tradition, the job of one of the captains is to be the “rapper” or “mixtape artist” and s/he is constantly spitting fire.
The team has been quite successful, having qualified for nationals twice in its four years of existence from 1989 to 1992, in addition to every single year since it restarted in 2008, where they have reached as high as 16th place. This year, the team is aiming to try to place first at the Missouri State Competition and in the top twenty at nationals, a goal that forum member Magikarpmaster629 thinks is becoming realized more and more each day.
Just a note here: I now currently have zero application documents for next week. If you are reading this, I strongly encourage you to go fill it out (see the first post in this thread for more details).
Alright y'all, it's time to introduce the latest Team of the Week; please welcome the Eagles of Milton High School in Milton, Georgia!
Milton High School's Science Olympiad program started around 6 years ago. Since its inception, it has seen great successes, including a 4th and 3rd place finish at their regional competition in 2014 and 2015, respectively, along with a 5th place finish at last year's Georgia State Competition. Through the season, the program usually downsizes from about 45 students to roughly 30 students around the start of the second semester as people leave to play sports and such.
At Milton, teams are not stacked at invitationals, and the results of each student at invitationals will just help determine their team placement at later tournaments. In December, they hold an in-school competition for all study and lab events, and students' performance at this tournament, along with past experience and coach recommendations, will be taken into account for stacking teams at regionals. Building events are generally not included in this in-school tournament, as they are relatively unpopular among participants. Practices for study and lab events are held on Tuesday and Wednesday and last for three hours, in which coaches meet with their students in one hour blocks to go over past competitions or other important material. Practices for building events are held over the weekend, and tend to be much more student-run than practices for study and lab events. Everything in the design process is overseen by an experienced builder, who is also in charge of calling practice and transporting any devices and tools to the tournament. Additionally, coaches are present to help provide advice about designs.
Milton has one captain and one vice captain, appointed by the head coach based on prior experience in Science Olympiad and commitment to the team. Roles of these positions include handling team PR with the school administration, sorting out materials for tournaments, and acting like role models for the other competitors. There are two head coaches, who namely are in charge of administrative tasks like paperwork in addition to their coaching duties. There are also several parent volunteers who assist the head coaches with administrative tasks and a few who coach events. Some events are run by upperclassmen, while others have students functioning as assistant coaches. In the coming season, the goal of many of those involved in Milton's Science Olympiad program is to place 1st or 2nd at the Georgia State Competition and qualify for the National Tournament.
Okay, so as many of you probably know, one of the things on the application document is to share a funny story or two about the team. Well, I'm not exactly sure how to say this one, so I'm just going to have to quote it directly:
Last year, we found this mutilated picture of the AP Lang teacher at our school in the SO closet. Rather than give it to our head coach, we made it our second mascot. Turns out that said AP Lang teacher gave the picture to our head coach as a present.
In addition to...uh...that, at the team's Write It Do It practices, forum member Samlan16 often gives great titles to the practice builds, including such timeless classics as “McDonald’s Disco,” “The Illuminati Takes Over a Playground in Alaska,” and “I’m sorry, but this looks like a burrito tossed out on the side of the road.” After contacting the country's best Write It Do It participants and researching this matter extensively, I have developed the following renditions of these builds:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/7qzJvZ5.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/CNUQ52k.jpg[/img]
We believe "McDonald's Disco" to have looked something like what is shown in these two videos: (yes, I realize that the music in those isn't disco, but c'mon, give me a break here) https://www.instagram.com/p/ze4V74KO1P/ https://www.instagram.com/p/zeoudLKO1k/
After receiving the following picture of the actual "McDonald's Disco," we actually weren't too far off:
John Richardsim wrote:the goal of many of those involved in Milton's Science Olympiad program is to place 1st or 2nd at the Georgia State Competition and qualify for the National Tournament.
Ah yes, the overambitious freshmen. Those of us who actually have been to Nats expect 4th or 5th at state.
Also, pretty much no one says y'all in the Metro Atlanta area. In fact, we sound like northerners.
Last edited by samlan16 on February 7th, 2016, 7:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Old fart who sort of did things sort of for some schools.
John Richardsim wrote:the goal of many of those involved in Milton's Science Olympiad program is to place 1st or 2nd at the Georgia State Competition and qualify for the National Tournament.
Also, pretty much no one says y'all in the Metro Atlanta area. In fact, we sound like northerners.
